He Misplaced $100 Million — And Would not Remorse It

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David Meltzer is aware of what it feels wish to lose all the things — and are available again from the sting.

"How a lot cash did you lose?" Restaurant Influencers host Shawn Walchef requested on stage on the Nationwide Restaurant Affiliation Present.

"Over $100 million," Meltzer replied with out hesitation.

"$100 million," Walchef repeated. "And you are still right here. Higher than ever."

For most individuals, that quantity can be the tip of their enterprise story. Meltzer turned it right into a platform.

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A bestselling creator and keynote speaker, he now teaches entrepreneurs methods to amplify their message and align their goal. That is why he was on the Restaurant Present — not as a restaurant operator, however as a mentor displaying how storytelling can flip a second into momentum.

Melzter readily shares the story of how he misplaced the cash in interviews and on social media — however he refuses to name it a sacrifice. To him, it was an funding.

"My spouse would not like me saying this," Meltzer admits. "I invested $100 million. With out that funding, I would not be the place I'm immediately. So how might I not see it as an funding?"

That reframing is central to Meltzer's worldview. Sleep, he says, is his prime nonnegotiable as a result of restoration fuels all the things else. Actions aren't divided into work and play, however into investments of time and power.

"I do not imagine in sacrifice," Meltzer says. "That is a imaginative and prescient of scarcity and shortage. I imagine in investing. Whenever you love the earth, it loves you again. Whenever you love your relationships, they love you again. I make that funding."

Meltzer's job now could be ensuring these classes dwell on in a digital age the place content material outlasts its creator.

"I am recognized as each the man who misplaced all the things and the man who's profitable," he says. "In all my actions, I am profitable, however I fail at each certainly one of them."

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The Stage Concept If Meltzer's philosophy is about funding, the Restaurant Present was the place it got here to life.

He referred to as it the "fishbowl of content material." Cameras circled an open stage on the ultimate day, however the seats have been almost empty. For a lot of audio system, that might be an issue. For Meltzer, it was the purpose.

"I do not care who's sitting within the chairs," he says. "I care what number of cameras are right here and what programs I've to amplify it."

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That's stage concept in apply: Seize content material and amplify it. A meetup with two individuals can flip into tens of millions of views if the story connects. Meltzer proved it when somebody requested concerning the coolest athlete he had ever met. He instructed a narrative about Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Dr. J from his days as a 12-year-old ball boy.

"Two individuals have been within the room after I instructed it, however that piece of content material has over 10 million views," he says.

It was a well-recognized lesson for me. After I opened Cali BBQ in San Diego, I spent 14 years centered on the 4 partitions of my restaurant. Working with Meltzer confirmed me an even bigger alternative: Construct in public, fail in public and share the method.

"One of the crucial necessary belongings you helped me understand is the facility of asking for assist," I instructed him on the time. "By making podcasts, YouTube movies and doing stage concept, I hope extra individuals get out of their restaurant and see what's potential."

"Enterprise is enjoyable," Meltzer says. "Life is enjoyable. Actions you receives a commission for, actions you do not. However they're all investments."

The viewers on the Nationwide Restaurant Present might have been quiet, however the cameras have been rolling. And meaning the dialog we recorded will dwell on lengthy after the cubicles are packed up — a perpetual stage the place the actual viewers is the one nonetheless to come back.

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